The Pentecostal Paradox: As The Global Chorus Grows, American Tongues Fall Silent

"Like" the Patheos Evangelical Page on Facebook to receive today's best commentary on Evangelical issues. The first time I walked into a Pentecostal church as a sixteen-year-old, I didn't know quite what to expect. Entering First Assembly of God ( AG ) in Columbia, South Carolina that Sunday morning was different than anything I had ever experienced. I could feel a sense of excitement, freedom, and spontaneity. Then, I heard something I had never heard before in a church service—voices other than the pastor's: audible gifts of the Spirit operating amidst seasons of worship, prophecies, prayers for healing and, yes, speaking in tongues. And, on that day it honestly was the speaking in tongues that most caught my fascination. Today , however, there is a perceived trending away from exercising this gift in public worship, even amidst self-described "Pentecostal" communities. Although speaking in an unknown tongue was something I had experienced only a few months earlier, attending this new church where it was accepted, even celebrated, was something I had not experienced. There was one thing I knew, another I did not. What I knew was that this experience of speaking in tongues was something quite amazing. While I had long wondered if God may ever speak to me in some way, this gift presupposed the possibility that through charismata, a "grace gift," his Spirit could speak through me—an extraordinary thought for a quite ordinary sixteen-year-old. What I did not know at that time was just how powerfully this thing called speaking in tongues and the fostering Pentecostal movement it "evidenced" was sweeping the planet. Nor did I realize the iconic and symbolic role it played in classical Pentecostalism. I have since come to find out that the movement that began with a handful of tongue-talking worshippers on Azusa Street in Los Angeles in 1906 grew to a following of twelve million by 1972. Today, quite remarkably, Pentecostals in their various forms have reportedly grown to almost 600 million worldwide, approximately one-fourth of all of Christendom. The respected historian Vinson Synan predicts that by the end of the twenty-first century Pentecostals will comprise half of all Christians in the world. And, although not a member of the Assemblies of God (AG) himself, he also estimates that at her present rate of growth, the AG will become the largest Protestant denomination in the world. Statistics verify this trend. "Uncontrollable Growth" In his new book, Spirit-Empowered Christianity in the 21 st Century , Synan notes that while "the greatest growth [among Pentecostals and Charismatics] has been and continues to be in Africa, Asia, and Latin America," the growth "has been much smaller in North America and Europe." More people now attend AG churches in Sao Paulo than in the entire United States! The AG has 2.9 million adherents in the United States, while Brazil alone, conservatively estimated, has over twenty million. Today, over 95 percent of AG adherents are actually outside of the United States. Just what accounts for the dramatic differences in rates of growth among Pentecostals in the United States and overseas? For one thing, Synan says, "it seems that signs and wonders are more prevalent in less developed parts of the world." The supernatural in general is more acknowledged in many spheres of life and faith in the "developing" parts of the world. David Barrett's monumental work, The World Christian Encyclopedia confirms that the widest growth in evangelism regularly correlates with the welcoming of the Holy Spirit's ministry of the supernatural—through gifts, signs and wonders. He further states that "many situations of uncontrollable growth" are occurring where the Holy Spirit's gifts are allowed. Holding Their Tongues? Speaking in tongues has arguably been the most emphasized charismata of the modern Pentecostal movement. Although the leading Pentecostal denominations in the world all emphasize this gift, some do so more so than others. In fact, the largest Pentecostal organization in the world, the AG, considers tongues "the initial, physical evidence of the Baptism in the Holy Spirit"—and refers to this as its "distinctive doctrine." It is considered the primary tangible evidence that a Christ-follower has experienced a "second work of grace," called the Baptism in the Holy Spirit, which believers are (according to doctrinal statements) supposed to "ardently expect" and "earnestly seek," Oddly, however, it seems that this hallmark phenomenon over the past decade has on many fronts been deemphasized, displaced and, in some cases, even placed on hold within churches that still consider themselves "Pentecostal." "The phenomenon [of speaking in tongues] seems much less frequent than a generation or two ago in local churches," says noted Pentecostal theologian Russell Spittler , "especially urban ones or megachurches. Charismatics for the most part do not emphasize the practice nor do they insist on the initial evidence doctrine, which is nevertheless strongly insisted upon within the denominational leadership of the AG. The wide success of denominational and televangelist charismatics, without initial evidence insistence, has isolated mainly North American classical Pentecostal denominations as the lone champions of the doctrine." What Will the Spirit Do? Unbeknownst to my parents and me, by the time we entered our first Pentecostal worship service, we were among the hundreds of thousands in North America during the decade of the 1970s who had transformative encounters with the Holy Spirit. The Baptism in the Holy Spirit, with the accompanying evidence of tongues, came amidst our mainline Protestantism and via the avenues of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal and bold evangelistic organizations like the Full Gospel Businessmen's Fellowship International. More than anything, what I experienced within my first two years in a Pentecostal church was the excitement of watching people young and old draw near to God and experience his presence together in new and spontaneous ways. In that atmosphere I often felt closer to God, unified amidst a homogenous church family, raptly anticipating what God might do next in and through this enthused church community. For the first time in my life, church was not only a place to hear songs and a sermon. It was an atmosphere in which to experience the outpourings, leadings and the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Up until this time for me, church had always been the place you went to simply hear what the preacher would say next ; now it was the place where I went to hear a soul-stirring sermon, yes, but also to see what the Spirit would do next. It was an ethos that groomed me to expect the supernatural; an atmosphere where "all things" were possible. A Diminishing of the Distinctive Some scholars and practitioners see the mainstreaming of Pentecostalism contributing to a diminishing of its distinctives. According to Spittler, fifty years ago, "Pentecostals were conventionally reckoned as... ne'er-do-wells, white trash: G. Campbell Morgan is said to have labeled the movement 'the last vomit of Satan.' Sociological orthodoxy, in fact, before 1950, defined the movement as a horde of the economically depraved or the mentally imbalanced. These days, Pentecostal leaders join the Presidential cabinet and are sought as presidents of evangelical institutions." For Pentecostals, the times have changed. A movement that has experienced rapid growth in the past century in the United States amidst periodic controversy and frequent misunderstanding has both influenced existing mainstream church culture and perhaps been influenced by it, as well. Pentecostalism, once quite unaccepted and even spurned by other denominations, has become much more welcomed amidst evangelicals. But, has that acceptance come with a price? "From WWII to Viet Nam, the evangelicalization of Pentecostalism occurred," says Spittler. "Then, from Viet Nam till now, we've seen the pentecostalization of evangelicalism. Each movement influenced the other." Pentecostal and charismatic expressions of praise and worship have arguably had a great influence on many mainstream churches. Since the charismatic renewal of the 1970s and the characteristic celebratory forms of worship that accompanied it, worship teams have replaced numerous choirs and organs across the country. From original praise songs borrowed from Christ for the Nations Institute (Texas) in the 1980s, to Hosanna Integrity monthly praise albums of the 1990s, to Hillsong Music and the Passion Movement in the last decade, worship forms have changed significantly. Praises and singing accompanied by upraised hands and clapping has become common fair in many mainline churches that were previously given to more reverential and contemplative forms. But while more mainstream evangelical churches have borrowed charismatic styles of worship and thus become more "pentecostalized," Pentecostal churches in North America are moving away in public worship gatherings from the more demonstrative expressions of spiritual gifts, such as messages in tongues with interpretation, prayers for healing and prophecy. In many cases, churches and megachurches have chosen to relegate glossolalia and other charisms to Sunday night services or small groups and, in some cases and settings, according to church historian Dr. Stanley Burgess , "it has virtually disappeared." "There has been a diminishing of the exercise of speaking in tongues in the [North American] church today," says Thomas Trask , former General Superintendent of the Assemblies of God." And, current Assemblies of God national leader, George Wood , explains that the exercise of tongues has been "more limited. There's been a cultural shift in the last 30 years. Sunday morning services used to be for believers, and Sunday night services were more evangelistic. Sunday night services have declined, and now the morning service is more for people to bring friends" (see Holding Their Tongues , p. 2). Samuel Rodriguez , President of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, believes that the "white Pentecostal church is becoming less and less Pentecostal. It is 'Pentecostal' in name only [and] in a state of crisis. There is so much trepidation among its leaders." He says there is too often today a "don't ask/don't tell policy mentality about the pneuma," and that by the end of this century the white Pentecostal church may be a very small community "unless there is a coming back to authentic Pentecostalism." Editor's Note : See Part 2 of "The Pentecostal Paradox" in the next installment of this column next week.

The Pentecostal Paradox: As the Global Chorus Grows, American Tongues Fall Silent